Communication platform for providing computer telephony integration services to remote subscribers, and associated method

ABSTRACT

A communication platform for providing computer/telephony integration services to remote subscribers comprises:
         a hosted call switching unit in communication with an external telephone network or interconnected networks through a communications trunk;   for each subscriber, a subscriber telephony component, such as an intelligent agent, executed by processing means belonging to the communication platform and connected to an external subscriber&#39;s information system through a permanent private secure data channel, whereby said subscriber telephony component can communicate in a private manner with other information system components of said subscriber so as to be logically part of said information system, each subscriber component being capable of controlling said switching unit according to subscriber data;   resources available to each subscriber telephony component in association with call processing or routing;   means for allocating resources to each telephone call handled by a subscriber telephony component in response to data communication with said component through a secure interface.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to computer/telephonyintegration, and more particularly to an architecture and related methodfor obtaining computer/telephony integration (such as value-added voiceservices, convergent voice-data services, etc.) with certain improvedproperties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The concepts of “Intelligent Networks” and “Advanced IntelligentNetwork” are known as involving an architecture to implement servicessuch as intelligent call routing on a public telephony network. Thistechnology comprises basically a routing database coupled in a quitedirect manner to the telephone network. However, these services aremostly limited to voice telephony and have little or no interaction withthe user's information systems.

There are also known so-called “Web Intelligent Networks” which have thepurpose of solving some of the disadvantages of the classicalintelligent network architecture by affording greater interactivity. Itallows interaction between a subscriber's information system and aservice control point (SCP) of an intelligent network via the Internet.By means of such interaction, the subscriber has control over theservice execution. (see “Integrating the Intelligent Network and theInternet”, O'Connell et al, ICIN 96).

Further, so-called computer telephony integration (CTI) technologiesoffer a wide range of solutions to integrate telephony with computers.CTI applications are numerous and include call-centers, unifiedmessaging (basically text messages available together with voicemessages through a single interface), interactive voice responsesystems, voice browsing systems, automatic call distribution, real timedata fetch according to caller identification etc. However all standardCTI solutions are operated on customer premises equipment (CPE).Therefore, they require the subscriber to connect their computerequipment to the telephone network via PBXs or via special telephonyinterface cards.

A major drawback of such CTI applications is that the function offlexible call routing permitted by the intelligent network technologiesis not available when such applications are CPE-based. The reason isthat CTI processing is always done after the call has been delivered bythe network.

Another known technology is the so-called network or virtual callcenters, which provide network-based CTI solutions for call centers.Such technology allows the subscriber to globally control the routingfunctions of the network (including automatic call distribution) e.g.for routing calls among different sites of the subscriber.

Still another prior art is constituted by a tentative project by aconsortium named “Parlay” (See parlay white papers at the Internetaddress www.parlay.org). Such project defines programming interfaces toimplement services that control the network behavior. Such interfaceshave the purpose of allowing to control the network behavior fromsoftware located in the subscriber's information system. However, thisParlay project only defines a programmatic API (Application ProgrammingInterface, and implies that a suitable pre-existing intelligent networkinfrastructure is available that is capable of providing gatewaysbetween the network and the subscriber information system.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

A main objective of the present invention is to combine the generic andflexible character of CTI-based solutions to integrate telephonyservices with computer equipment and information systems, while enablingto deliver advanced telephony functions in a similar way as intelligentnetwork techniques.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a verycost-effective alternative to the deployment of classical intelligentnetwork infrastructure, specially for small and medium-sized telecomservice providers.

Still another objective of the present invention is to eliminate theneed for costly CPE-based equipment, like PABXs or CTI platforms, and toprovide subscribers with greater flexibility while minimizing costly andtherefore risky financial investments.

In brief, this is achieved by a communication platform for providingcomputer/telephony integration services to remote subscribers,comprising:

-   a call switching unit for communicating with an external telephone    network or interconnected networks through a communications trunk;-   for each of one or more subscribers, a subscriber telephony    component executed by processing means belonging to the    communication platform and connectable to an external subscriber's    information system through a private data channel, whereby said    subscriber telephony component can communicate with other components    of said subscriber's information system so as to be logically part    of said information system, each subscriber telephony component    being capable of controlling calls handled by said switching unit in    response to data communication through the private channel.

Preferred aspects of embodiments of this communication platform are asfollows:

-   each subscriber telephony component is comprised of an intelligent    agent.-   said permanent private secure data channel is a virtual private    network link (VPN) connected to a network of the subscriber's    information system.-   said switching unit is capable of redirecting towards the telephone    system of a given subscriber incoming calls intended to said    subscriber through said communication trunk.-   said switching unit is capable of redirecting towards the computer    system of a given subscriber incoming calls intended to said    subscriber through said private secure data channel.-   the communication platform further comprises:    -   call handling resources available to each of said subscriber        telephony components,    -   a storage for resource allocation data in association with each        subscriber telephony component, and    -   control means for allocating call handling resources to a given        subscriber telephony component when handling a telephone call on        the basis of said resource allocation data.-   said call handling resources comprise voice processing resources.-   said voice processing resources are connected to said switching    unit.-   the communication platform further comprises a billing system in    communication with said control means for billing each subscriber    according to call handling resource usage.-   the communication platform further comprises at least one hosted    switch hardware platform comprising:    -   said processing means for executing at least one subscriber        telephony component,    -   said hosted call switching unit, and    -   control means for controlling said switching unit according to        instructions by said executed subscriber telephony components.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a methodfor providing computer telephony integration to a subscriber, comprisingthe following steps:

-   providing a hardware communication platform, said communication    platform comprising a hosted call switching unit in communication    with an external telephone network or interconnected networks    through a communications trunk, and call handling resources,-   installing a subscriber telephony component for execution on said    communication platform,-   providing a permanent private secure data channel between said    subscriber telephony component in said communication platform and an    external information system of said subscriber,-   for each incoming call intended for the subscriber, directing said    call to said communication platform,-   allocating call handling resources of said communication platform to    said subscriber telephony component for handling said incoming call.

Preferred aspects of embodiments of the above method are as follows:

-   the method further comprises, before the call handling resources    allocation step, a step of checking from resource allocation data    stored by the communication platform whether there are sufficient    call handling resources available for the current incoming call.-   the method further comprises the additional step of periodically    computing a bill to the subscriber according to call handling    resource usage by the associated subscriber telephone component.-   the method further comprises, in association with said installation    step, the additional step of allocating to the subscriber telephone    component security data for secure communications with said    subscriber information system.-   the method further comprises, in association with said installation    step, the additional step of allocating to the subscriber telephone    component security data for secure communications between said    component and the rest of said communication platform.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described in greater detail withreference to the appended drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephony network, subscriber informationsystem and communication platform embodying the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a practical embodiment of a computertelephony integration system according to the prior art, and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a practical embodiment of a computertelephony integration system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

I—Architecture Description

FIG. 1 illustrates a general architecture implementing the presentinvention.

1. Communication Platform

The present invention is mainly embodied by a communication platform 100for providing telecommunication value added services to subscribers.

The communication platform comprises the following elements:

a) Hosted Switch 110

This is a computer-based node connected to a set of interconnectedtelephony networks 200 through interconnection trunks 300, in a mannerknown per se. The basic function of the hosted switch is to process andswitch incoming calls that are routed to its switching array 114 via thetelephony trunks. Action on the switching array 114 is performed by aUser Telephony Agent 111, as will be described in the following, via acall control unit 113.

b) Voice Processing Resources 120

These are additional computer resources which can be used in combinationwith the hosted switch to perform advanced voice processing functionssuch as voice synthesis, automatic voice recognition, etc.

c) Billing System 130

This is a computer system that collects resource usage per subscriberand generates billing information.

d) Subscriber Management Database 140

This is another computer-based system that stores subscriptioninformation for each subscriber of the services afforded by thecommunication platform.

e) Access Control Management System 150

The basic function of this system is to supervise resource allocationcontrol to user telephony agents, as they will be described in thefollowing, and to track resource usage. This system can physicallybelong to the hosted switch hardware or it can be implemented on aseparate computer system and control several hosted switches.

f) Operational Support System

This is a computer system that provides management and supervisioninformation to the communication platform operators in order to insurethe proper operations of the whole platform.

2. Operating Environment

a) Interconnection

The communication platform is interconnected to the telecommunicationnetworks 200 at the hosted switch level using telephony voice trunks300, as indicated above. Regarding the trunk technology, conventional,state-of-the-art TDM (time division multiplexing) trunks can be usedtogether with SS7 signaling or Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) trunks,using H323 or signaling according to the standard Session InvitationProtocol (SIP).

The communication platform 100 can either be deployed as a telephonynetwork of its own, e.g., it is operated by a competitive localextension carrier (CLEC) that handles the interconnection with aseparate, e.g. national network. Alternatively, it can be deployed as asub-network or a Service Node. In the latter case, it may be connectedas an adjunct node to classic switching systems or as an overlay ofseveral nodes, in a manner known per se.

b) User Access

Reference 400 globally designates the subscriber's computer andtelephone system including a number of conventional computers 410connected together via an Intranet-type network 420. Reference 440globally designates the telephony system of the subscriber, which isconnected to the telephone network 200 via one or several lines 500. Thecomputer system 410, 420 of the subscriber is connected to the hostedswitch platform 110 of the communication platform 100 via a multiplexer430 connected to one end of a so-called virtual private network (VPN)data channel (link) 600, the other end of which is connected to thehosted switch 110 as will be described in greater detail below.

It can be seen that the hosted switch 110 has no access to the telephonylocal loop of the subscriber. Instead it has a data communication to theuser over the Internet via said VPN link 600.

This VPN link is used for data communication between a user telephonyagent 111 hosted by the hosted switch 110 and the subscriber informationsystem 410, 420.

It should be noted that, when the hosted switch needs to establish avoice communication (e.g. an outside call redirection) towards a calledparty in the subscriber system 400 (as will be described below ingreater detail), the hosted switch has two options:

-   either it redirects the call towards a switching node or a    third-party network (i.e. via network 200) that has a wireline or a    radio connection to the called party;-   or it uses packetized voice over the VPN link 600 if a sufficient    bandwidth is available on this link and if the subscriber system 400    has the necessary equipment to receive voice calls over a data    network (Internet telephony).    c) User Telephony Agents

“Intelligent Agents” are a recent concept in software engineering.Detailed information about such agents is available e.g. on the Web sitewww.agent.org.

Agents are generally described as software entities that:

-   execute autonomously with an internal representation of their user    needs,-   communicate with other agents or with the user according to    predefined schemes;-   monitor the state of their operating environment.

An important feature of the present invention is that the communicationplatform 100 uses User Telephony Agents (UTAs) 111 to providenetwork-based CTI services to subscribers (typically one UTA persubscriber).

From a hardware standpoint, each UTA is hosted by the hosted switchplatform 110 to handle calls on behalf of the subscriber.

From the standpoint of software components, UTAs are logically part ofthe respective subscribers' information systems 410, 420. This isperformed by a Telephony Agent hosting service provider 112 included inthe hosted switch platform 110 and which provides a secured remoteextension of the user's Intranet 420 via the above described VPN link600 and multiplexer 430.

The main function of an UTA is to handle incoming telephone calls onbehalf of the respective subscriber, using as necessary the callprocessing and voice processing resources available in the communicationplatform 100. The basic call control is performed by a call control unit113 connected to the switching array 114.

Advantageously standard computer telephony application and programminginterfaces (APIs), for instance interfaces such as Java TelephonyApplication and Programming Interfaces (JTAPI) or Java IntelligentNetwork (JAIN) interfaces, known per se, are provided in the hostedswitch's telephony agent hosting service provider 112 and used forensuring suitable interface between the agents 111 and the hostingservice provider 112.

The voice processing resources 120 available in the communicationplatform 110 can be used by an UTA to interact with the caller invarious ways, for instance to play or record announcements, to recognizeDTMF signals, synthesize or recognize live voice, etc.

Another important aspect of the present invention is the ability of thehosting service provider 112 to control resource access and trackresource usage for each UTA 111.

More particularly, each hosted UTA has corresponding resource allocationinformation stored in correspondence therewith in the subscribermanagement database 140, so that the UTA, via the access controlmanagement system 150, is prevented from using more resources than theuser subscription permits.

Additionally, detailed records of resource usage (logging) by each UTA111 are kept by the access control management system 150, e.g. forbilling purposes by the billing system 130.

II—Services Description

First of all, each user telephony agent is a piece of software that musthave been developed according to the subscriber requirements, andtested. This step involves standard software engineering activities thatis outside the scope of the present invention. The starting point of theservices provision is the UTA software code of a given subscriber.

Service provisioning involves the following steps:

1. UTA Packaging

Each time a new subscriber wants his UTA to be hosted by thecommunication platform 100, a process designated as UTA packaging isexecuted for combining the UTA code with authentication information sothat the communication platform can perform appropriate securitychecking before safely letting the UTA use the communication platformresources.

UTA authentication has a double goal:

-   allowing the communication platform to check whether the code it is    loading from the subscriber environment 400 is coming from a trusted    and well-known source; this is done by appropriate, well known    signature techniques;-   allowing the UTA to set up a secure connection to the User's    Intranet 420 via the VPN link 600; this is performed by providing    the UTA with appropriate security certificates, encryption keys or    equivalent in connection with corresponding means in the    corresponding subscriber's information system 410, 420.    2. Subscription Providing

In association with the installation of the UTA 111 of a new subscriber,the communication platform's subscriber database 140 must be configuredwith corresponding subscription information so that the access controlmanager 150 can let the UTA use call-processing or voice-processingresources within the limits of the subscription.

This subscription information includes for instance the followinginformation:

-   basic telephony resources allocated to a subscriber: mostly phone    numbers and the number of lines (i.e. how many calls a UTA may    simultaneously handle);-   processing resources available to the UTA; as explained above, the    communication platform controls all the resources used by an UTA,    including CPU and memory (RAM, hard disk, etc.) usage, call and    voice processing resources and networking resources at the VPN link    level. The resources available to UTA to handle calls on a    predefined number of lines are therefore provisioned to the    Subscriber database.    3. Service Activation

When the steps described above have been successfully completed, the UTAis activated and the communication platform can start delivering andemitting calls to and from this UTA. These operations include thefollowing:

a) incoming calls

Incoming calls are routed through the interconnection trunks 300 to thehosted switch which is in charge of handling the call (it should benoted in this regard that a communication platform may include severalhosted switch platforms 110 each hosting several UTAs 111, so that anincoming call from network 200 first has to be routed to the appropriateplatform 110).

The access control management system 150 then checks that the UTA of thesubscriber to which this incoming call is intended has sufficientauthorized resource capabilities to handle this incoming call inaddition to other calls currently handled. If so, the call is deliveredto the UTA.

The UTA then requests the appropriate resource allocation to handle thecall. The UTA may choose to:

-   use local voice processing resources 120 of platform 100 to play    announcements, record messages, interact with the caller using DTMF    or automatic speech recognition, etc.;-   cross-connect the call to another telephone address, inside or    outside the communication platform (e.g. call bridging);-   perform a sequence involving a combination of the above two    possibilities.

Again, for each resource consumed by the UTA, the access control managersystem 150 checks whether the UTA's allowed resources are sufficient.

When the call is complete, all the resources allocated to this call arereleased. The access control management system 150 then issues a reportto the billing system 130 that keeps a history of resource consumption.

It should be noted here that, since the access control management systemhas real-time knowledge of resource usage for each UTA, prepaid billingschemes can be easily implemented.

As the UTA operates within the subscriber's information system 400 fromthe logical standpoint, it may interact in real time or close to realtime with other agents or data (or more generally software components)located within anywhere in this information system. Of course, suchinteraction during the handling of an incoming call should be performedwith sufficient speed to avoid any undesirable latency in providingvocal information to the caller after hanging off.

For avoiding such risk of latency without being dependent from e.g.abnormally low bandwidth at the VPN link 600 The communication platformcan also provide local, caching storage to the UTA to satisfy latencyrequirements when serving large numbers of callers.

b) Outgoing Calls

The UTA 111 can also issue outgoing calls. Such calls are either handledby automatic voice processing resources 120 or connected to live agentsthrough Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). An example of suchapplication is the management of outgoing—outgoing to the telephonenetwork, that is—marketing calls, preferably with predictive dialingtechniques known per se.

Resource allocation and billing for outgoing calls is preferably similaror identical to the ones for incoming calls.

III—Practical Comparative Example

A comparison between a standard CTI architecture and a CTI agent-basedset-up according to the present invention will now be made withparticular reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 in a practical application ofvoice browsing. In FIGS. 2 and 3, identical or similar parts as those ofFIG. 1 are designated as far as possible by the same reference signs.

1. Voice Browsing Application Using Classic CTI

The basic purpose of a voice browsing application is to provideinformation stored in electronic form to callers. It allows the callerto navigate in the available information using the DTMF tones generatedby his telephone keyboard or automatic voice recognition.

Voice is one medium to access information amongst many others (such asPC-based navigators, WAP telephones, Personal Digital Assistants, etc.),and a voice browsing application is typically designed using thewell-known multi-tiered IP architecture as shown in FIG. 2.

Such architecture, entirely located at the subscriber premises, includesa first tier 450 of voice access services, a middle tier 411 ofinformation services (typically business application services) and anfinal tier 412 of storage information services (typically data servers).The first tier 450 includes the voice browsing application itself 451,CTI middleware 452 and CTI hardware 453 for connection to the publictelephone network 200.

More precisely, the first tier 450 houses the whole CTI hardware andsoftware, with the following (known per se) features:

-   telephony access: telephone lines are pulled either directly from    the telephony operator (in analog, or ISDN format) or indirectly via    a PABX system;-   telephony lines are connected to a computer system via telephony    cards; depending on the number of telephony ports that need to be    handled by the system, telephony cards may connect e.g. 1 to 4    telephony ports or 1 to 4 E1/T1 multiplexed ports that connect up to    120 ports;-   voice processing functions provide automatic interaction with the    caller; in the present example of a voice browsing application,    these voice processing functions involve: information presentation    e.g. text to speech, and information transfer to the telephony line    and caller interaction via either DTMF tone or speech recognition;    in most cases, these functions are handled by standard computers    assisted by dedicated hardware.    2. Voice Browsing Using Inventive Agent-Based CTI

The communication platform 100 as described with reference to FIG. 1allows a service provider to virtualize the voice front-end part of thevoice browsing applications, as shown in FIG. 3.

The hosted switch 110, located in the network, hosts the voice browsingfront-end and can access the needed specialized voice processingresources located in the communication platform (not shown in itsentirety in FIG. 3).

Telephony lines are no longer terminated at the user site. Instead, theVPN link 600 extends the User's Intranet (420) to the remote hostedswitch 110.

For callers, there is no difference between the two architectures. Inboth cases, the voice services can be provided using for instancegeographic numbers, 800-type free phone numbers, shared revenue numbers,etc. . . .

It is understood from the foregoing that the communication platformaccording to the present invention is suitable for providing networkbased, hosted CTI services.

More particularly, the communication platform allows to combine thevalues of:

-   CTI technologies that permit the integration of communication    services to the user's electronic information systems,-   intelligent network architectures that permit flexible and    customized call routing schemes,-   hosted application services that reduce the capital needs for    specific and often costly resources and provide a greater    flexibility to adapt communication resources to instantaneous    business needs.

Practical examples are numerous. For instance, the present inventionallows an Internet service provider to provide, in addition to dataservices, vocal services (e.g. for unified messaging) which will behandled at the communication platform level, i.e. without majorinvestments and with effective costs for the provider that will besubstantially proportional to resource usage.

Another example is the capacity of the communication platform toallocate to a given User Telephony Agent different resources (includingthe number of available lines for incoming or outgoing calls) as afunction of time.

1. A communication platform for providing computer/telephony integrationservices to remote subscribers, comprising: a switch for communicatingwith an external telephone network or interconnected networks through acommunications trunk; for each of one or more subscribers, a subscribertelephony component executed by a processor of the communicationplatform, wherein the subscriber telephony component is to connect to anexternal subscriber's information system through a private data channel,wherein said subscriber telephony component is to communicate with othercomponents of said subscriber's information system so as to be logicallypart of said information system, wherein each subscriber telephonycomponent is to control calls handled by said switch in response to datacommunication through the private data channel; and wherein the switchis to select one of the communications trunk and the private datachannel for establishment of a voice communication call to a subscriberfor which the voice communication call is intended and wherein theswitch is to connect the voice communication call through the selectedone of the communications trunk and the private data channel.
 2. Thecommunication platform according to claim 1, wherein each subscribertelephony component is comprised of an intelligent agent.
 3. Thecommunication platform according to claim 1, wherein said private datachannel is a virtual private network link (VPN) connected to a networkof the subscriber's information system.
 4. The communication platformaccording to claim 1, wherein said switch is to determine whethersufficient bandwidth is available on the private data channel forestablishment of the voice communication call and to select the privatedata channel for the voice communication call in response to adetermination that the private data channel has sufficient bandwidth andto otherwise select the communication trunk for the establishment of thevoice communication call.
 5. The communication platform according toclaim 1, wherein said switch is to packetize the voice communicationcall when the private data channel is selected for the establishment ofthe voice communication call.
 6. The communication platform according toclaim 1, further comprising: call handling resources available to eachof said subscriber telephony components, storage for resource allocationdata in association with each subscriber telephony component, and anoperational support system to allocate the call handling resources to agiven subscriber telephony component when handling a voice communicationcall on the basis of said resource allocation data.
 7. The communicationplatform according to claim 6, wherein said call handling resourcescomprise voice processing resources.
 8. The communication platformaccording to claim 7, wherein said voice processing resources areconnected to said switch.
 9. The communication platform according toclaim 6, further comprising a billing system in communication with saidcontroller to bill each subscriber according to call handling resourceusage.
 10. The communication platform according to claim 1, comprisingat least one hosted switch hardware platform comprising: said processorto execute at least one of the subscriber telephony components, saidswitch, and an operational support system to control the switchaccording to instructions by said executed subscriber telephonycomponents.
 11. A method for providing computer telephony integration toa subscriber, said method comprising: providing a hardware communicationplatform, said communication platform comprising a hosted call switchingunit in communication with an external telephone network orinterconnected networks through a communications trunk, and callhandling resources; installing a subscriber telephony component forexecution on said communication platform; providing a private securedata channel between said subscriber telephony component in saidcommunication platform and an external information system of saidsubscriber, for an incoming voice communication call intended for thesubscriber, selecting, by the hosted call switching unit, one of thecommunications trunk and the private data channel for establishment ofthe voice communication call to the subscriber; and allocating callhandling resources of said communication platform to said subscribertelephony component for handling said incoming call to connect the voicecommunication call through the selected one of the communications trunkand the private data channel.
 12. The method according to claim 11,comprising, before allocating the call handling resources, checking fromresource allocation data stored by the communication platform whetherthere are sufficient call handling resources available for the currentvoice communication call.
 13. The method according to claim 12,comprising periodically computing a bill to the subscriber according tocall handling resource usage by the associated subscriber telephonecomponent.
 14. The method according to claim 11, further comprisingallocating to the subscriber telephone component security data forsecure communications with said subscriber information system.
 15. Themethod according to claim 11, further comprising allocating to thesubscriber telephone component security data for secure communicationsbetween said component and the rest of said communication platform. 16.A communication platform for providing computer/telephony integrationservices to remote subscribers, comprising: a switch for communicatingwith an external telephone network or interconnected networks through acommunications trunk; for each of one or more subscribers, anintelligent agent executed by a processor of the communication platform,wherein the intelligent agent is to connect to an external subscriber'sinformation system through a private data channel, wherein saidintelligent agent is to communicate with other components of saidsubscriber's information system so as to be logically part of saidinformation system, wherein each intelligent agent is to control callshandled by said switch in response to data communication through theprivate data channel; and wherein the communications trunk and theprivate data channel comprise separate communications lines, and whereinthe switch is to select one of the communications trunk and the privatedata channel for establishment of a voice communication call to asubscriber for which the voice communication call is intended and toconnect the voice communication call through the selected one of thecommunications trunk and the private data channel.
 17. The communicationplatform according to claim 16, wherein said private data channel is avirtual private network link (VPN) connected to a network of thesubscriber's information system.
 18. The communication platformaccording to claim 16, wherein said switch is to determine whethersufficient bandwidth is available on the private data channel forestablishment of the voice communication call and to select the privatedata channel for the voice communication call in response to adetermination that the private data channel has sufficient bandwidth andto otherwise select the communication trunk for the establishment of thevoice communication call.
 19. The communication platform according toclaim 16, wherein said switch is to packetize the voice communicationcall when the private data channel is selected for the establishment ofthe voice communication call.
 20. The communication platform accordingto claim 16, further comprising: call handling resources available toeach of said intelligent agents, storage for resource allocation data inassociation with each intelligent agent, and an operational supportsystem to allocate the call handling resources to a given intelligentagent when handling a voice communication call on the basis of saidresource allocation data.
 21. The communication platform according toclaim 20, wherein said call handling resources comprise voice processingresources.
 22. The communication platform according to claim 20, furthercomprising a billing system in communication with said controller tobill each subscriber according to call handling resource usage.
 23. Acommunication platform for providing computer/telephony integrationservices to remote subscribers, comprising: a call switching unit forcommunicating with an external telephone network or interconnectednetworks through a communications trunk; for each of one or moresubscribers, an intelligent agent executed by a processor of thecommunication platform, wherein the intelligent agent is to connect toan external subscriber's information system through a virtual privatenetwork (VPN) link, wherein said intelligent agent is to communicatewith other components of said subscriber's information system so as tobe logically part of said information system, wherein each intelligentagent is to control calls handled by said call switching unit inresponse to data communication through the VPN link; and wherein thecall switching unit is to select the VPN link for establishment of avoice communication call to a subscriber for which the voicecommunication call is intended and to connect the voice communicationcall through the VPN link.
 24. A communication platform for providingcomputer/telephony integration services to remote subscribers,comprising: a call switching unit for communicating with an externaltelephone network or interconnected networks through a communicationstrunk; for each of one or more subscribers, an intelligent agentexecuted by a processor of the communication platform, wherein theintelligent agent is to connect to an external subscriber's informationsystem through a virtual private network (VPN) link, wherein saidintelligent agent is to communicate with other components of saidsubscriber's information system so as to be logically part of saidinformation system, wherein each intelligent agent is to control callshandled by said call switching unit in response to data communicationthrough the VPN link; wherein the call switching unit is to select oneof the communications trunk and the VPN link for establishment of avoice communication call to a subscriber for which the voicecommunication call is intended and wherein the call switching unit is toconnect the voice communication call through the selected one of thecommunications trunk and the VPN link; call handling resources availableto each of said intelligent agents; storage for resource allocation datain association with each intelligent agent, and a controller to callhandling resources to a given intelligent agent when handling atelephone call on the basis of said resource allocation data; and abilling system in communication with said control means for billing eachsubscriber according to call handling resource usage.
 25. Acommunication platform for providing computer/telephony integrationservices to remote subscribers, comprising: a hosted switch incommunication with an external telephone network or interconnectednetworks through a communications trunk; for each subscriber, asubscriber telephony component executed by a processor of thecommunication platform, wherein the subscriber telephony component is toconnect to an external subscriber's information system through a privatedata channel, wherein said subscriber telephony component is tocommunicate in a private manner with other information system componentsof said subscriber so as to be logically part of said informationsystem, wherein each subscriber component is to control said hostedswitch according to subscriber data; wherein the hosted switch is toselect one of the communications trunk and the private data channel forestablishment of a voice communication call to a subscriber for whichthe voice communication call is intended and wherein the hosted switchis to connect the voice communication call through the selected one ofthe communications trunk and the private data channel; resourcesavailable to each subscriber telephony component in association withcall processing or routing; and wherein the resources are to beallocated to each telephone call handled by a subscriber telephonycomponent in response to data communication with said component througha secure interface.